Hampi New Year

It's been go-go-go for me over the last few days (not in the Soi Cowboy sense). One day a-piece in small dusty bazaar towns, and we're talking about the real frontier, places the Lonely Planet doesn't even mention. If you whip out that atlas of India I'm sure you have tucked away in your attic, look for the following towns in order: Tiruvanamalai, Vellore, Tirupathi/Tirumala, Cudapa, and now Balani. Three states in which three different languages are spoken. That's India.
If there's one thing about travel I despise, it's the traveling. I mean the real down-and-dirty kind. The absolutely psychotic bus drivers screaming down the wrong lane, narrowly avoiding 100 km/hr head on-collisions. But I seem to be the only one gripping the hand railing so hard my hand bleeds, so maybe these busses are equipped with some sort of bat-mobile technology that makes the bus jump up 20 feet on rolling stilts, allowing the oncoming bus to pass safely beneath.
These little random towns are beginning to mash together in my memory, inseperable from one another, and all sharing the same basic elements: Horns, exhaust, of course chai, garbage, stunning temples.
I'll have more for you after the new year, when my head is clear and I'll be quietly resting near the Krishna river in Hampi.

Meals and Tiffin

One of the greatest joys of staying in India is the marvelous and unbelievably cheap food. Being most familiar with North Indian food from restaurants back home, I've had a chance to try new things at virtually every meal. Basically, South Indian food doesn't use wheat (such as in naan, chapati, roti, etc) but only rice. The rice is mashed, baked, and fried into quite a variety forms such as the spongy idly, popular at breakfast time of for a snack.

It comes down to this: I pretty much laze around various towns and cities sipping chai and coffee, snacking, chatting, and lounging about all day. From time to time I go to see a temple, pet a cow, ride a bike, etc, but my life here mostly revolves around chai and tiffin (a british-raj era term for snack). I'm not one of these travelers that likes to set a strict itinerary and see as many of Lonely Planet's recommended sights as possible. I prefer to just sort of drift about and see where the wind takes me. If one were to take a red pen and draw a line of the course I have taken since landing in Chennai a week ago, they would conclude that I was probably getting lit before every departure, going to the bus station, and picking the place that had the name I liked best. Tiravunamalaiaiaiaiaiai.... mmmmmm.

But no! I have maintained relative sobriety throughout the trip, and complete sobriety while in bus and train stations! And somehow I'm still only 3 hours from Chennai, making a sort of spiral outwards from Chennai. Screw you Lonely Planet, and screw your customized four-to-six-week itinerary. I'll go to the place you describe as a "dusty little bazaar town with little to detain tourists" if I please. And I'll love it, because I'm the only whitey here (because you've scared them all away).

And where am I going with all this? Nowhere, because I don't have to, and if you don't believe me than refer to the first post where I warned this blog would be completely raw, unedited, and probably unreadable. Go ahead, check it.

But getting back to the things I love about India:
1) The food.
2) The wonderful variety of animals roaming about the streets of the villages and cities (cows, water buffaloes, dogs, elephants, the list goes on).
3) The perpetual smell which drifts about in some mixture of incense, shit, coriander, and piss. But it's better than that sounds (the incense is really good).
4) The price (cheap).
5) The concise speaking habits of the locals.
6) The enthusiasm of Indians for having their picture taken - "excuse me sir, one picture please" is a phrase I'm likely to hear whenever I take the camera out.

From here I'll make tracks for Hampi, some place north and west of here, for New Year's. Thanks to all those that have written back and commented on the entries. It's nice to hear from you.

Have a Pondicherry Christmas

The French were kicked out of Pondicherry a good decade or so after the English left the rest of India, so the east side of the canal running through the city something of a "Little Paris". While walking home on December 24th there was some celebratory commotion a few blocks down. The source was a massive Cathedral hosting a midnight mass, and throngs of Indians in the church and many more spilling out into the courtyard to listen to the mass in Tamil language.

I've been here in Pondicherry for the past 3 days, not because it's magnificent, but rather I'm just a bit lazy and taking time to build of travel momentum. Today I'll move to Tiruvannamalai, one of the most important pilgramage spots in Southern India. During each full moon, thousands of pilgrims come to worship. The full moon isn't until the Friday after next (it's a pity that stellar objects don't adjust themselves to accomodate my travel plans) so I'll miss that.

I've purchased a full set of Southern Indian garb - a sarong and white collared top, and "dish towel" to dab the sweat. I feel very regal walking the streets.

I wandered into a large Hindu temple last night to find some sort of ceremony taking place. I was urged to join and watch. Afterwards I was served a vegetarian Indian dinner, served on banana leaf (my Christmas dinner). It was perfect. I later learned it was a 60th wedding anniversary, and that the 60th wedding anniversary is a very important one, celebrated with as if it were a new wedding.

While heading home with a friend, we more sounds of celebration coming from inside a building. At first the guard outside was reluctant to permit us entry, but finally gave in. Inside was a rather bizarre scene. An Indian band played on a stage and everywhere there were Indian men (no women!) dancing and drinking with great enthusiasm. Like everything else, closing time came soon, at about 9:30.

Until next time...

What's your good name?

Just arrived in Pondicherry, about 3 hours south of Chennai. I spent the last couple of days in the little sculptors paradise town of Mahaliburum, a lovely little town by the sea. It's famous throughout India (and the world) for producing sculpture, and anywhere you go you'll hear the clinkety clack of artists busy producing everything from tiny Ohm signs to put on necklaces to massive sculptures to be shipped to temples or homes and businesses abroad.

Yesterday I watched a cow eat a cardboard box. People who own cows bring them into the city in the morning, where they can feed on various rubbish before making their way back to their homes at night. The cow literally ate the whole box. Apparently they eat plastic as well.

No illness to speak of just yet, though I have been drinking water put in front of me in restaurants from questionable sources. Foolish? Perhaps, but what is a trip to India if you don't spend a couple of hours (though hopefully not more than a couple of days) wretching over a filthy shit-smeared squat toilet, right?

Today held plenty of excitement as well, with my first hitch-hiking in India. Pondicherry is apparently a hot place to be during Christmas time, so all of the buses going there were full to the brim with people, hanging out of the open door for dear life. I was determined to get on the next one, even if it meant riding on the roof-rack, but before I got a chance (hopefully I'll get to try that later) a couple a businessmen pulled over and gave me a lift. Quick, comfortable, free tea stop...

I'm constantly laughing and smiling in this place. Everywhere you turn there's some surprise, some magical thing, or some amazing person. Indians are unbelievably friendly and many people have remarkable English skill, so people constantly strike up conversations with me everywhere I go. And then they're gone, and the next person takes their place. And on and on and on. As one fellow traveler commented, you're never alone in India.

Sorry, no photos just yet, but I have been taking plenty of video and pictures. Have patience... and a wonderful Christmastime (I'll be here in Pondicherry practicing Indian dance and sipping on the best f'ing Chai tea in the world).

India: First Impressions

Today I arrived in India! The plane was delayed a whopping 4 hours so I didn't get in until after dark. In the end I left my laptop in Bangkok (a shout out to Andy who's taking care of my baby). What does this mean for you? No pictures and video unless I can find a place/way to upload them. For me, it means I won't be able to use cute graphics and videos as a cover for my half-assed prose. but as soon as I get a chance I'll share some photos.

After traveling in Morocco, I was prepared for the worst at the airport arrival gate. I strapped on my "I'm a hardened traveler so back off" look for the throngs of people waiting at the airport exit. But wait, these are just ordinary Indians waiting for their families to arrive! Not a tout in sight! What's going on?
Apparently Southern India is far less aggressive than the north.

Anyway, the city is really dirty and there doesn't seem to be a whole lot going on/to do here, so I'll head somewhere tomorrow.

Until next time...

Seth was here

I've been to the countries in red.
create your own visited country map

The Indian Embassy a.k.a. Hell

By now, I should be well used to the hilariously inconvenient and short times for visa applications and pick-ups at embassies. Nevertheless, I was a little surprised that, despite the sign saying "visa pick-up from 5 - 5:30 pm", the windows remained curtained and the staff absent in that little room until 5:40. What else could I and the other 200 people do but wait though, considering they have our passports.
Not exactly a cheap visa, this:
Visa fee: 5500 yen
Telex (?) fee: 3250 yen
Fee for being American (no kidding!): 2500 yen
Total: 11250 yen ($96.67)
ouch!

Since I spent all my money at the embassy, I've had to cut down on other costs. Here's a photo of tonight's dinner:note the mismatching chopsticks
cabbage: 25 yen
natto: 33 yen
miso soup: 33 yen
egg: 25 yen
rice: 99 yen
total: 215 yen ($1.85)
not too bad!

A travelogue is born

In exactly one week I leave my cushy Tokyo life for the Asian mainland: First Bangkok, then on to India, and from there, who knows? You'll just have to check back often to find out.
Be warned that the posts here will be unedited, dirty, raw, travel ramblings. I won't have time for your "paragraphs" and "sentences" while I'm fleeing capture by sabre armed raiders.
In addition to the written word, it is my intention to provide you with plentiful helpings of visual and audio material to be picked up and transmitted to you in the comfort of your home using my über-media-geek package consisting of: my trusty if slightly outdated powerbook G4, my brand spankin new 'HD is for losers' Panasonic DVX 100B video camera and my 'I'm too crappy to steal' sony DSC-S90. Thanks in advance to YouTube and Flickr for hosting the media.

Check back later in the week to find out if I will get my overpriced Indian visa in time for my flight to Bangkok.